toby keith's 'american ride' video

yeah the tardian populist anti wall st thing is the only slightly novel element to me. the xenophobia, racism, ecoscepticism, pop culture revulsion, love it or leave it are all pretty rote. as is the tune.

it sounds like a parody of a country song from south park. i get mad when people say this kind of thing about r&b or something, though, so i'll just leave it at that. hunt3r otm pretty much

One surprise though:

look mom
no hands
I love
this American *ride*

the temptation to sing "land" there must have been enormous

"War on Christmas" from the Colbert special >>>>>>>>>>>> this

xp haha and he's gotta stretch out "ameri-caaaaaannnnnn ride" to make it sort of rhyme too

it sounds like a parody of a country song from south park.

Yeah. Like I said upthread, I think it plays like a pro-wrestler's theme song:

I am a real American, Fight for the rights of every man,
I am a real American, fight for what's right, fight for your life!

When it comes crashing down, and it hurts inside,
ya' gotta take a stand, it don't help to hide,
Well, you hurt my friends, and you hurt my pride,
I gotta be a man; I can't let it slide,
I am a real American, Fight for the rights of every man,
I am a real American, fight for what's right, fight for your life!

I feel strong about right and wrong,
And I don't take trouble for very long,
I got something deep inside of me, and courage is the thing that keeps us free,
I am a real American, Fight for the rights of every man,
I am a real American, fight for what's right, fight for your life!

the xenophobia, racism

where?

wrestler theme songs own, you're dumb and gay daniel get out

"tidal wave comin across the mexican border"

i really do think everyone talkin shit about this song is fakin jax in the extreme, that hook owns. it is catchy as h*ck and it owns. get out.

let ur freak flag fly dood

it is catchy as its now in my head

There ain't no doubt I love this...ride.

wrestler theme songs own, you're dumb and gay daniel

Okay, you've convinced me.

"tidal wave comin across the mexican border"
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Sunday, November 22, 2009 5:34 PM (2 hours ago)

classist assumptions aside, i don't see anything xenophobic or racist about this line, especially since it puns of the global warming/rising sea levels line that precedes it

off*

UNEEDIT MART

"tidal wave comin across the mexican border"
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Sunday, November 22, 2009 5:34 PM (2 hours ago)

classist assumptions aside, i don't see anything xenophobic or racist about this line, especially since it puns of the global warming/rising sea levels line that precedes it

― killah priest, Sunday, November 22, 2009 2:23 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dude did u watch the video. its a bunch of brown skinned mexicans in sombreros jumping the fence

i had watched it the other day. right now i cant turn on the sound so i just went back to the lyrics.

BUT now that i watch it (muted) i stick by my point. if there's a problem with the video, it's that it essentializes, and although that obviously affects the portrayal of the mexicans, it seems to occur outside of race.

that's not to say i didn't feel stupid when this is what greeted me when i clicked on the link

http://i50.tinypic.com/e8wysg.png

but i still feel like we're judging the fans more than the song

the song is transparently pandering to those fans. you can pretend, in a vacuum, that hes not saying anything political with this, but he quite obviously is

anyone who agrees w/ him recognizes what hes flagrantly signifying

to be fair he didnt even write the song

im not saying its a 'bad song' and i guess at one level, no it is not 'clearly' xenophobic -- there's no INDICTMENT of the 'tidal wave from across the border' -- but its quite clear on the subtext of his politics, the politics of his audience & particularly the imagery in the video where he stands on the issue. he can play dumb to avoid getting kicked off the airwaves but its utterly clear that dude is politically a douche

well that's been utterly clear for years. which i guess is why i expected this song to be a lot more grating and offensive than i think it is. where really, it's not any kind of deep-felt anything, it's not really angry or vindictive, it's mostly a big blue-collar-comedy-tour type goof-off. yew might be a redneck if yew think america is screwed!

we need a knee-jerk, faux-populist defense of this song, with lots of ad hom personal attacks against people who don't like it. just for old times sake.

As with his last album, 2008's That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy, most of the songs on American Ride were cowritten by Keith and Bobby Pinson. The album's title track is the only song which Keith did not co-write;[2] it was written by Joe West and Dave Pahanish, who produce for Jimmy Wayne. They gave Keith this song because they considered him the "the only guy in the world that could get away with cutting it,"[5] and he had the demo on his iPod for nearly a year before recording it.[6] One of the few songs in Keith's career that he did not have a hand in writing, "American Ride" is the first single from the album, and on the Billboard Hot Country Songs dated for the week of October 10, 2009, it became his 19th #1.[7]

yeah exactly mothra

i dunno theres a lot of country that doesnt get so fox news talking points political like this & the video is pretty unique -- im not surprised by his politics but like ... since when do country dudes give a shit about having an opinion on global warming? & why would country fans 'inherently' take the side of the moronic "but it gets cold in the winter!!!" political cartoonists? i mean its obv because theres a propaganda machine invested in making pro-global warming industry dudes out of 'you might be a redneck if' types but here's, like, where the rubber hits the road you know

& i think thats 'notable' i wasnt shitting on the song at all tho, its pretty memorable & kinda fun outside of the noxious brainwashing haa

deej do you know anything about toby keith? his music has been super fox news political basically ever since 9/11

yes, im aware.

do u really think this video is "ho hum business as usual" & not worth discussing?

idk i just imagine keith latching onto it cuz it's got a good hook and he likes the stuff about kids watchin youtube, and with all the crazy fox news shit he's just like 'eh, whatever'

shit is hilarious

i thought only a handful of his songs were overtly political and mostly he's a dude who sings about partying

well i agree that it's a unique video... but toby keith has given a shit about having an opinion on every big ticket divisive l/r political issue since forever

this thread wasnt meant to be a "pro" vs "anti" argument ... its obv politically noxious & clearly entertaining, the video is 'interesting' outside of annoying regular ilx contrarian/popism debates

well i agree that it's a unique video... but toby keith has given a shit about having an opinion on every big ticket divisive l/r political issue since forever

― Mr. Yah (J0rdan S.), Sunday, November 22, 2009 3:45 PM (39 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what does that have to do w/ anything

the video is pretty unique -- im not surprised by his politics but like ... since when do country dudes give a shit about having an opinion on global warming?

well i agree that it's a unique video... but toby keith has given a shit about having an opinion on every big ticket divisive l/r political issue since forever

― Mr. Yah (J0rdan S.), Sunday, November 22, 2009 4:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i feel like that's perception more than reality he seems like a pretty apolitical 'eh-whatever-i-dont-wanna-argue-about-it' kind of dude 2 me

basically i think tipsy's post is otm

xp not on immigration, def not

what's your source on that, besides this video, is he known as an outspoken anti illegals guy or something

during the comedy central roast of larry the cable guy every zing of toby keith was about how he hates mexican people

is basically my source

One of the new kids on my caseload at work is a 6'4" gay Puerto Rican guy who ocasionally cross dresses and carries a fabulous purse. He loves Toby Keith and won't stop signing/playing this song. It cracks me up.

Jordan why were you watching Larry the Cable Guy's roast?

i've seen that ish like 3 times - all of the roasts are so funny

:D

i mean he self-identifies as a democrat, i think he sees himself as a fairly reasonable, centrist guy who would listen to persuasive arguments from a lefty point of view; or putting it another way, he probably vaguely agrees with the sentiments behind this stuff (in american ride) but also doesnt have any strong convictions about it either. it could've been a much angrier song but he makes it into more of a laid back observational-humor kind of thing

norm macdonald is probably more right wing than him

wait i read that wrong

two generations ago you probably would not have been at a Lefty Frizell show because, like all of us, you would have been a total hipster.

whiney you're probably right but I like to fantasize that I would have been a bumpkin throwing hay bales around

I can't watch youtube video at the moment, which is bumming me out as I read this topic.

Btw, in terms of persona and cultural signifiers, who is the Left's version of Toby Keith? Is it Chuck D?

a Chuck D who has subsumed the party-hard spirit of Flavor Flav.

original "hillbilly music" = largely pastoral folk music

Here's where your theory starts to go wrong, btw.

two generations ago you probably would not have been at a Lefty Frizell show because, like all of us, you would have been a total hipster.

― strawtrekman (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, November 25, 2009 2:45 AM (7 hours ago)

Did they have hipsters in the 20s/30s though?

Also xhuxh is OTM there. Tradition fiddlin' and hollarin' can be some insane avant garde, mindblowing stuff!

hollerin

Tradition fiddlin' and hollarin' can be some insane avant garde, mindblowing stuff!

i think the point is more that it was dance music. it was fast and loud and rowdy. it is chronologically and technologically distant from toby keith, but not particularly distant in aim or spirit.

Exactly. An awful lot of it (most of it?) was white post-minstrels aping the blues, getting drunk and being somebody. Wise-ass music for rowdy bars. Like a lot of what Toby does.

If you want evidence, get ahold of this:

http://www.amazon.com/White-Country-Blues-1926-1938-Lighter/dp/B0000027L6

Or this:

http://www.amazon.com/You-Aint-Talkin-Me-Charlie/dp/B0009A1B8G

Or this (though my copy has him in blackface on the cover):

http://www.amazon.com/Minstrel-Man-Georgia-Emmett-Miller/dp/B000002B10

Or this (not all country):

http://www.amazon.com/Stomp-Swerve-American-Music-Gets/dp/B00012UU34/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1259165124&sr=8-3

Or this (ditto):

http://www.amazon.com/Good-What-Ails-You-1926-1937/dp/B000B5KRNO

(Not all for bars, obviously. Sometimes tent shows and back porches and barn dances worked better. But all still pretty rowdy.)

Did they have hipsters in the 20s/30s though?

Yes. I think they were called "white people who listen to race music."

smoked muggles, frequented speakeasies, wore short little fringed dresses, toured the countryside drunk in great boatlike cars with friends standing on the sideboards

jesus christ are we STILL having this argument about contemporary country

no

okay good I will go back to ignoring ti

you do so at your own risk

http://weblogs.cltv.com/news/local/chicago/TI.jpg

lol

This is the one song that Keith didn't write on his new album. I say that because I think he's a pretty solid songwriter. His songs are ridiculous, but they are so catchy. There's a new song on this album I heard the other day-"Every dog has its day, Dog." Even though I don't agree with his politics (or more specifically, his fans' politics), I think he's the best thing in contemporary country.

Driving up the Grapevine in California I put on country radio, because that's all there is aside from Mexican stations up there, and I really rocked out to "Every Dog Has Its Day." When I found out it was Toby Keith I was kind of stunned. Nothing special but a nice solid tune.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/toby-keiths-latest-single-weirdly-sounds-a-lot-lik,58472/

So his new album's called "Sundown Heaven Town." I'm guessing he didn't Google "sundown town" before he called it that.

another autumn, another Keith album

and of course you meant Tim McGraw, right?

Yes. Yes I did. D'oh.